A Bitter Taste
by Fuu43
Summary: Collection of short oneshots and drabbles in the RK universe.


As the story synopsis says, this is a collection of Kenshin drabble/one shots. They will be mostly unpolished bits of things that will come sporadically (aka, whenever I can't stop thinking of them). Length and content will probably vary, as will genre, characters involved…you name it. It's just a place to sort of 'vomit' out random thoughts and images.

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Content: Kaoru/General/Angst

A Bitter Taste

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Kaoru looked forlornly at the burnt brown confection in front of her. It was misshapen, one side so low the pan beneath it was visible, the other side so high it looked like a mountain in comparison. Charred to a black at the highest point, she'd tried vainly minutes before to scrape off the worst of it. Her actions hadn't helped. Dark flakes sprinkled the top of the dessert, so similar looking to ash from a fire that her face had frozen into a disgruntled frown. She poked into it, wondering perhaps if the inside was still salvageable. Uncooked batter ran out and pooled in the bottom.

Her eyes crinkled in frustration and she glanced quickly out the open back door. The yard was still empty. She needed to hurry before Kenshin was home. With him and Yahiko gone to market, she knew she'd have only an hour or two at best.

It was stupid she supposed. Everyone knew, most of all her, that she was simply awful in the kitchen. Kaoru had tried different styles, recipes, and even ingredients- but the outcome was always the same. It looked bad, tasted worse, and left everyone who ate it practically ill. Her father had always humored her and praised it, but she'd known. She'd always known. After all, she'd eaten it too. Her fish was too salty, her rice chalky, and her vegetables tasteless and limp. It never failed to amaze her how truly appalling her own cooking was.

She'd learned to take it in stride though, had accepted that she was far from the best. She was just more suited to other things. She could do things that no other women she knew were capable of. At such a young age she supported herself, a teenage boy, a wanderer, and a gambler. She was so much more than most women older than her were. More than what other girls her age could ever be. Even if they could cook and clean and sew in a perfectly straight line. She had done more, lived more, and the things she'd done had actually mattered.

She was unique, and she liked it.

Kaoru had even begun to laugh with Yahiko or Sano when they complained and teased. It rarely even bothered her at all.

Really.

Kaoru threw the dishtowel haphazardly on the counter and glanced at what was supposed to be a sweet and sugary treat.

It had all started with her youngest charge. Yahiko had found the recipe, bringing it home from Tae's and raving the entire way. It was a new western dish. A dessert he'd tried once and was hooked on. Sweet, sugary, and with a great crème on top that was both rich and smooth-it was becoming the talk of the town.

It was the next morning that she'd had her great awful terrible idea. Why not try to make it herself? Kenshin liked sweets, and she'd love to prove to both Sano and Yahiko that she could make just one thing well. Maybe this was it. This might be her thing. She'd even thought optimistically that because it was western it may be easier to make. Maybe it wasn't her cooking in general that was dreadful…just the cooking she'd been previously taught.

Kaoru now knew the truth however. The awful smelling _thing_ in front of her was a dead giveaway. There was no 'missing talent,' no 'hidden recipe' that would finally work. Kaoru could not cook. Just like she couldn't sew, properly pour tea, or walk gracefully. She watched the thing slowly fold in on itself, deflating until it had shrunk to half its original size. Now it looked even worse than it smelled. She bit her lip in frustration, and brushed her ingredient smudged hands on her apron.

Outside she heard the sound of kids passing, talking loudly and exchanging jokes. Her head turned in their direction before swiveling back. She was running out of time. Kenshin and Yahiko had been gone for awhile, and who knew if Sano or even Megumi would stop by.

Giving the concoction one last chance, she scooped up a portion that was only minimally burned. Without giving herself time to think, she quickly swallowed it.

Later that day when Kenshin asked her what she'd done with her morning, she didn't even glance toward the bit of upturned dirt near the edge of the yard. Kaoru didn't need to.

The bitter taste was still in her mouth.

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End file.
